We seem to struggle with bringing in and retaining new employees. Because we are benefit heavy (we offer a defined benefit pension plan, life insurance multiple times salary, etc.), applicants are turned off by the lower hourly rate of pay. As an older employee, I want to keep the benefits I have. But what is of value to me does not seem to be of value to many applicants these days. Is it possible to grandfather current employees in the old benefits but start new benefits for new hires, less benefits-more hourly pay? Suggestions? 401K, $50,000 cap on life insurance, etc.?

Employment laws vary by state so this is a question I would be asking of the bank's HR attorney and/or outsourced HR service vendor.

You do need to speak with an attorney but a former employer of mine did something very similar. They did away with pensions and an annual bonus and went to higher salaries and annual salary raises.

People need to eat, and pensions and life insurance do not put food on the table today. While there may be little benefit to be the pay leader in the market, there is significant risk bringing up the rear.

Your team is right to look at the mix of benefits to what new talent values and is looking for today. Many have frozen or disbanded pension plans, but there are still significant costs with that in addition to offering a define contribution plan. Relaxed dress codes and work-life balance opportunities have a value to considering into your pay rates. Also, management needs to see the cost in in the revolving door or recruitment and training a staff with large turnover in terms of dollars, time, and customer perception of it.

Sounds like a good opportunity for a larger conversation for management and how this fits into your strategic plan and overall culture and culture shift.

People need to eat, and pensions and life insurance do not put food on the table today.

this

we went trough this exercise a few years back - essentially if you were over a certain age and X number years of service (age+service=magic number), you kept your pension. those that did not attain a magic number were locked in the pension at the current level (no new addition) and in graduated age had higher 401(k) match-contribution from the bank (20-29 had X added, 30-39 were X+1, 40-49 were X+2, etc). new hires after that date were solely 401(k) with normal match.

as someone who kept the full pension and no additional 401(k) match, i would have preferred the additional match, it was that good.

oh - and we used a 3rd party to work through the various options and plans, and i would highly recommend using an outside firm, someone who specializes in this type of business. you likely don't have the right people in your HR team and need expertise on this. we certainly didn't.

Is a la carte benefits such a thing?

Depends on how you define a la carte, but some institutions will give each employee XXX dollar to spend on benefits. Once that money is expended, then the employee has to pick up the remainder of the costs. If the employee chooses not to purchase any benefits, they get the cash. If that is the type of program you are referring too.

I've seen what I would call fake a la carte. One benefits program administrator vendor with which I'm familiar phrases it as a la carte, but that was just a way to dress it up differently, with actually the same benefits as the prior year, but costing each employee more. Something like:

2011 Your benefit selections cost you $5,000 a year in employee contributions (plus company pays $9,500, but that's not disclosed to employee)

2012 Same benefits will cost same employee $6,000 a year but yikes that's a big increase, so the vendor tells employees that the company will provide $9,500 a year for employees to "spend" on whatever benefits they choose (same as always, in reality), but the end result is still the same: employee costs go up this year and increase ever year, we'll just focus our messaging on what the company is spending rather than on what the bank is spending.

Anytime someone changes how they are phrasing your benefits, pay close attention to what is really changing.

Typo correction: * increase every year, we'll just focus our messaging on what the company is spending rather than on what the bank employee is spending.

well, not sure what you mean by a la carte either, but we have major medical and dental where employees pay 1/3 and bank pays 2/3, but then offer a number of other benefits that all come at a cost that is born 100% by the employee, such as vision insurance, accidental death insurance, an AFLAC type insurance, Legal Aid insurance, cancer insurance, a FSA or HSA, and a number of others that i can't recall at the moment.